Mr Williams bought his first Toyota - a Corolla - from Mike Farmer and sales executive Ian Hall back in 1983. Ian is now sales director at Farmer & Carlisle Toyota Loughborough and has sold every one of the 12 Toyotas to Paul. When asked why Paul had remained such a devoted ambassador for Toyota, Paul said: “What I really liked was meeting with Mike Farmer and Ian Hall; the rapport with the people and the sense of trust that I had. For me, it’s a combination of the product and the relationships with people. Those are probably the two things that have kept me with Farmer & Carlisle all the way along.”

Paul has driven various Toyotas, with his favourite being the sporty Celica. Paul says: “The thing I noticed quite quickly at first was that I didn’t seem to have to do any repairs! I didn’t have problems starting it. The reliability, I guess, was something that was talked about; Toyota obviously had a reputation for that. In those days, I felt the price of the cars were a little more expensive than the ones I had been buying, but then of course I was getting that extra reliability and value.

“People I knew said ‘You can afford a Toyota can you?!’ but I realised that you got on the ladder with Toyota, the resale value was so good, so I could then trade it in and get another Toyota - which I’ve done ever since!”

Not only did Paul fall in love with Toyota but he spread the joy to his family and neighbourhood. He goes on to say: “Several of my family have bought Toyotas as a result. My parents for example have switched to Toyotas. In fact, what actually happened was, we got a new Corolla and passed the old one onto them. This was my Dad’s first Corolla, after which he went on to get another Corolla and then a Yaris.

“When he had to stop driving because of age, he handed his Yaris to my wife, who in turn handed her Corolla on to my daughter! So, we hand them around in the family!”

Paul has now moved on to his first Hybrid car, an Auris Excel, and said he is “enjoying the sense of learning drive all over!”